The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) experienced a significant downturn on Friday, with its benchmark KSE-100 Index plummeting by 1,133.34 points as a bearish trend dominated the day”s trading, wiping billions from the market’s overall value.
The KSE-100 Index concluded the session at 184,409.67, marking a 0.61 per cent decline from the previous day”s close of 185,543.01. During a volatile day, the index recorded a high of 186,180.32 before succumbing to selling pressure and hitting a low of 183,700.84.
The negative sentiment was widespread, as the KSE-30 Index also retreated, shedding 404.12 points to close at 56,593.88. This represented a 0.71 per cent fall from its previous position of 56,998.00.
Market activity witnessed a substantial contraction. The traded value in the regular market fell sharply to PKR 52.92 billion from the prior session’s PKR 91.33 billion. Likewise, trading volume, or turnover, decreased to 1.03 billion shares from nearly 1.43 billion shares on the preceding day.
This broad-based decline resulted in a considerable erosion of investor wealth. The total market capitalisation of the exchange shrank to PKR 20,768.09 billion from PKR 20,862.43 billion, a single-day loss of over PKR 94.34 billion.
The downward trend was also observed in other market segments, including Deliverable Future Contracts (DFC) and Odd Lot (ODL) markets, which both recorded lower turnover and traded value compared to the previous day.